In wireless communication networks, high powered base stations (e.g., towers supporting antennas) commonly provide serve service to wireless user devices. Each base station is capable of serving wireless user devices in a coverage area that is primarily determined by the power of the signal it can transmit. Frequently, high powered base stations are located in a grid pattern and these base stations typically mount various antennas at an elevated location, such as on a tower. For example, such base stations may include a single omnidirectional antenna, two 90 degree sector antennas, or three 120 degree sector antennas to provide 360 degree coverage. In any arrangement, radio wave propagation from the base station is affected in unpredictable ways by objects in the environment, such as trees, buildings and so forth. Radio signals will often follow the roadways in urban canyons, bouncing back and forth between buildings, and not following a direct line between the emitter and receiver. Such interference affects the data transfer rate of such large base stations.
To improve wireless access, providers are moving toward smaller stations that provide coverage for a more limited geography. That is, to augment the coverage of the wireless network, wireless transceiver devices/stations (e.g., antennas) with relatively small coverage areas (and serving capacities) are deployed. Depending on their coverage area and serving capacities, these wireless transceiver devices are referred to as “femto” cells or “pico” cells, or more generally, small cell access point devices or small cell poles. For simplicity and generality, the term “small cell pole” is used herein to refer to a wireless transceiver device that is configured to serve wireless user devices over relatively small coverage areas and with generally less capacity as compared to a “macro” base station that is configured to serve a relatively large coverage area (“macro cell”). Such small cell poles are now being deployed to provide coverage for individual city blocks. Along these lines, such small cell poles are commonly deployed on sidewalks and other rights of way within urban environments.
The ever increasing use of RF bandwidth or ‘mobile data’ requires a corresponding increase in the number of small cell poles located within urban environments. By way of example, proposed 5G wireless networks promise greatly improved network speeds and are currently being planned and implemented. However, such networks typically require shorter RF transmission distances compared to existing networks and will require more dense networks of access points/small cell poles to handle data traffic. In the wireless industry, this is referred to as densification. Residents of many communities have objected to such densification in their neighborhoods often due to the aesthetic concerns of such small cell poles.